Back when I was an industrial correspondent in the Seventies and Eighties, we had a word for employees who refused to go to work. It was called a ‘strike’. The unions withdrew their labour and their members didn’t get paid. Most of the time, these strikes were over money, even though Britain was an economic … Read more
London Is Open. How many times did we hear the city’s two-bob chancer of a mayor Sadiq Khan parrot that trite slogan in the wake of the Brexit referendum? He even lit up the London Eye in the colours of the EU flag to proclaim that despite the Leave vote, the city welcomes all-comers and … Read more
RICHARD LITTLEJOHN: With depressing predictability, it’s politics as usual again. The temporary ‘we’re all in this together’ truce didn’t last long.
Back in 2004, in the run-up to the U.S. Presidential election, I was invited to take part in a special edition of the BBC’s Question Time, live from Miami. Your Uncle Rich managed to cause uproar when I described my fellow panellist, the agitprop, anti-Bush, American film-maker Michael Moore, as ‘the Lord Haw-Haw of the … Read more
From the Off, I’ve been happy to admit that when it comes to the coronavirus crisis I don’t have a clue. Is the lockdown justified? Should it be lifted immediately? The simple answer is: dunno. And neither does anyone else. You pays your money and takes your choice. The best and brightest minds in the … Read more
The judges of the prestigious Mind How You Go Awards have convened an emergency meeting over police handling of the coronavirus crisis. Since the announcement of the Government lockdown, nominations have been rolling in at an alarming rate. Normally, they meet in December for a leisurely eight-hour lunch to decide the winners of the awards, … Read more
Plans have been drawn up to deploy 20,000 troops to help tackle the coronavirus pandemic. They will be drafted in to guard key sites, including hospitals, pharmacies and supermarkets. Soldiers are being trained to drive oxygen tankers around the country and Army reservists may be called up to join a special ‘Covid support force’. Richard … Read more
Today’s edition of You Couldn’t Make It Up comes courtesy of Islamic State, which has advised jihadists to steer clear of Europe in case they catch coronavirus. ISIS, the terrorist outfit I’ve always called Izal — how appropriate that now sounds — is telling its disciples to ‘stay away from the land of the epidemic’. … Read more
This is what it must have been like in 1940. Europe has fallen, the United States has gone into isolation and Britain stands alone. Italy is in lockdown and troops are on the streets. Austria, Slovenia and the Czech Republic have closed their borders. Across the Continent, schools, shops, offices, factories and restaurants have closed; sporting … Read more
The actor Philip Glenister says he’d like to reprise his best-known role as DCI Gene Hunt, from Life On Mars. But he’s worried the outspoken character would be too toxic for today’s woke sensibilities. Even when the show premiered in 2006, there were complaints about Hunt’s unreconstructed sexism and racism. His co-stars were obliged constantly … Read more